World Book Day - Spread the Word !!
Alan Gibbons certainly 'spread the word' at St. Helens Central Library as part of our World Book Day celebrations. He gave an inspiring talk about how he got into writing, and the importance of using first hand experiences. Alan has written several books, mainly for teenagers, including 'The Defender', 'The lost boys appreciation club' and 'Caught in the crossfire'. In the year 2000 his novel 'Shadow of the Minotaur' won the 'Blue Peter Award' for the 'Book I couldn't put down'.
He is an entertaining speaker, who kept our audience going for over 2 hours !!
The 'Spread the Word' postcard campaign had mixed results - but we did get suggestions from some councillors, senior staff and our local MP (he chose 'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens in case you're interested !!)
St. Helens libraries are now looking forward to maintaining our audience's involvement - by providing more author events and activities throughout the year. Our next event will be Billy Hopkins at a branch library, followed by Sherry Ashworth in June and Ron Ellis at Central Library in July.
Incidentally, World Book Day 2006 is also covered - with Adele Geras coming to speak at Central Library - so onwards and upwards hopefully !
Librarians in the North West have pioneered partnership working to encourage new readers into libraries. Time To Read is a partnership of librarians engaged in reader development activity in public library authorities in the North West Region. All 23 public library authorities in the region currently support Time To Read.